Fluid filters are widely used in machinery, such as but not limited to internal combustion engines, for filtering various fluids. It has been found that it is highly desirable to provide an even flow distribution of particles into filter media, which increases the filter media capacity and the life of a filter media while reducing the space consumed by the filter media. One way to address this is to provide, annular filter elements having an array of fins which encourage mixing of contaminated inlet air in order to promote an increase in capacity and efficiency.
In providing annular filters with fin arrays, there is a need to improve production efficiencies while providing improvements to consumers. There is also a constant need to maintain reliability while improving production efficiency.